Wladyslaw Sikorski

Wladyslaw Sikorski (20 May 1881-4 July 1943) was Prime Minister of Poland from 16 December 1922 to 26 May 1923, succeeding Julian Nowak and preceding Wincenty Witos, and Prime Minister-in-Exile of the Polish Underground State from 30 September 1939 to 4 July 1943, succeeding Felicjan Slawoj Skladkowski and preceding Stanislaw Mikolajczyk.

Biography
Wladyslaw Sikorski was born on 20 May 1881 in Tuszow Narodowy, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and he joined the Union of Active Struggle alongside Jozef Pilsudski, Marian Kukiel, Walery Slawek, Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Witold Jodko-Narkiewicz, and Henryk Minkiewicz. Sikorski joined the Polish Legion of the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, and he served under Jozef Pilsudski during the war. In 1918, when Austria-Hungary did not live up to its promises of granting independence to Poland, he took part in the revolt of the legionnaires against the Austrians at the Battle of Rarancza on 15-16 February 1918. He announced his solidarity with Jozef Pilsudski and was a general in the Polish-Ukrainian War and Polish-Soviet War, and he led the Polish 5th Army during the Battle of Warsaw. Sikorski rose to Divisional General in February 1921, and he was praised by Pilsudski despite their differences. He was opposed to the 1926 May Coup, however, and in 1939 he was denied a military command by Edward Smigly-Ritz. On 30 September 1939, President Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz called on Sikorski to serve as Prime Minister in Exile of Poland, and he was in command of Polish Underground State troops fighting alongside the Western Allies during World War II, including the Polish Independent Highland Brigade at the Battle of Narvik in 1940. The No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron fought in the Battle of Britain under Sikorski, and Polish units served with dinstinction in the British Army and with the Western Allies.

Sikorski was also important as Prime Minister of Poland, leading Poland in their negotiations with other Allied powers. He failed to re-establish relations with the Soviet Union, which set up its own communist government-in-exile in opposition to the Polish Underground State and the Western-supported Poles, and the Katyn Massacre of 1940 destroyed any chances of Poland reestablishing relations with the Comintern. He organized Polish forces that were trained by the United Kingdom in the Middle East, but he died in May 1943 when his plane crashed near Gibraltar.